Yogurt: You Might as Well Drink a Soda Instead
For years yogurt has held status of one of the health foods. You think yogurt, you think healthy, right?
But it's actually a bit of a poser, especially when it comes to sugar content. In fact, many brands of yogurt contain more sugar than junk food.
Of course there are some healthy yogurts -- the plain, low-fat kind ... the kind you and your children probably aren't eating.
"Unfortunately, the yogurt that most people purchase, especially for their children, is so highly sweetened that one container is like drinking Coke -- OK, a Coke fortified with calcium," says Dina R. Rose, PhD., food sociologist, and author of the blog and future book It's Not About Nutrition.com.
Check out the sugar content of these three popular flavors of yogurt and that in some comparable "junk foods" that Rose provided as examples. You'll be shocked!
YoBaby Blueberry (4 oz) has 13g sugar.
Froot Loops = 12g of sugar per serving.
Fruity Pebbles = 11g.
Kellogg's Nutri-Grian Mixed Berry Bar = 12g.
Stretch Island Fruit Leather, Autumn Apple flavor = 9g.
Kellogg's Barbie Fruit Flavored Snacks = 13g per pouch.
1 large Pepperidge Farm Soft Baked Chocolate Chunk Dark Chocolate Brownie cookie =13g.
YoBaby Banana Drinkable (6 oz) has 22g sugar.
Kellogg's Pop-Tart Frosted Blueberry = 17g of sugar per tart.
Dreyer's Fruit Bar Popsicle, Grape Flavor = 20g.
Dunkin' Donuts Strawberry Frosted Donut = 14g.
8 Caramel-filled Hershey's Kisses = 21g.
One Reese's Peanut Butter Big Cup = 19g.
8 ounce serving of Sunny D = 20g.
One Dairy Queen Child's Chocolate Cone = 17g.
Breyers Strawberry YoCrunch with Oreo (6 oz) has 27g of sugar.
One Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar = 24g of sugar.
2 Entenmann's Softees Powdered Donuts = 26g.
One apple fritter at Starbucks = 27g.
One can of 7UP = 25g.
But what about all the calcium yogurt contains, isn't that important, especially for children?
"The national concern about calcium consumption seems manufactured," Rose said. "Is there any evidence that our kids are suffering from a calcium deficiency? There's been no outbreak of rickets, no evidence that people are suffering from osteoporosis at an early age."
She said if we focused on teaching our kids to a wide range of healthy foods -- particularly fruits and vegetables -- they would get plenty of calcium throughout the day.
Rose says instead many parents choose yogurt for their children because of a "selective attention" and the "feel fetter approach".
"We focus on the dimension of food that makes us feel better (in this case the calcium) and overlook the dimension we would rather ignore (the sugar)," she explained. "Unfortunately, good eating habits can't be shaped that way because it's the desirable, not the nutritious, aspect of food which shapes how our kids really eat. Sugar begets more sugar: it never leads to carrots. Or spinach."
Definitely some good food for thought.
Do you consider yogurt a healthy food or a treat? Will this information change that?
I agree..which is why I switched to cottage cheese you'd be surprised how yummy it is w/ some fruit
my son drinks at least 1 sometimes 2 El Mexicano drinkable yogurts... he's obsessed! But he's 2 and we can't get him to eat a lot of things... I give him Stonybrook? organic yogurt with granola when I can but I bought their drinkable yogurts one time and they are HORRIBLE "smoothies" full of sugar. They TASTE like pure sugar.
OMGeez I thought it was healthier then the other products too. I guess we are switching to cottage cheese and fruits.
I always get mija the go-gurts.. She loves them... She likes cottage cheese tambien but it has to have crumbled up Doritos in it.. lol
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Question of the day 5/28
- Habichuela
on Sep. 23, 2010 at 9:29 PM